I Have Found a Ransom - Let God be True

1 I have Found a Ransom If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness: Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have Found a Ransom . Job 33:23-24 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a Ransom for many. Matthew 20:28 Who gave himself a Ransom for all, to be testified in due time. I Timothy 2:6 Preliminary reading: Job 33; Psalm 49; Isaiah 53; Romans 8. Introduction: 1. There is no better subject for preaching than the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins (I Cor 2:2; Gal 6:14). 2. The greatest drama in the universe is our Creator God s redemption of His people from eternal condemnation. 3. God chose various terms (17-20) to describe various facets of salvation justification, adoption, Ransom !

2 4. For much more about the facets of salvation .. - The Nature of a Ransom A. Ransom . A Ransom is the price paid to free someone from captivity, to remove a penalty or condemnation, or restore a previous condition (Pr 6:35; Ex 21:30; 30:12; Job 33:24; 36:18). 1. It is an economic term, in that it describes the price paid to buy back some thing from another. 2. It is closely related to redemption, which is the action of buying something back from another. 3. A good illustration and way to grasp Ransom is kidnapping and the payment to get a child back. B. The kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. and the subsequent events give a good picture of a Ransom . 1. Charles A. Lindbergh was a great American hero, who in 1927 first flew an airplane solo and nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, from New York City to Paris.

3 He was only 25 years of age. 2. To avoid the news hounds that constantly followed him, he built a house on 390 secluded acres near Hopewell, New Jersey, where he would live on the weekends to avoid them. 3. His 20-month-old son, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., was kidnapped around 9:00 on March 1, 1932, from his nursery bedroom on the second floor of the Lindbergh house near Hopewell. 4. At home with his wife on the night of March 1, the nurse checked the little boy in his bed at 8:00PM, but Found him missing at 10:00PM. Charles recalled hearing a sound at 9:00PM, while sitting in the living room with his wife, like an orange crate falling off a chair in the kitchen. 5. A note was Found on the nursery windowsill demanding $50,000 to get the child back safely. The whole nation became involved in this great drama, including J.

4 Edgar Hoover and the president. 6. On March 16, a baby s sleeping suit was delivered as proof of having the child, which was positively identified as belonging to the Lindberghs. 7. Thirty-two days later, on the night of April 2, Charles Lindbergh accompanied a mediator, John F. Condon, who met the kidnapper in a cemetery, where he turned over $50,000 in gold certificates in exchange for a note telling them where the child was being kept. But when the area was searched where the baby was supposedly located, there was no baby to be Found . 8. Seventy-three days later, on May 12, the body was Found with a crushed skull and a mutilated and badly decomposed body, a mere four miles from the Lindbergh estate, by a passing truck driver.

5 Quite obviously, the child had been killed immediately after the kidnapping. 9. The Federal Reserve Bank of NY discovered the first batch of gold certificates on May 2, 1933; and a gas station attendant cashing another one in late 1934 finally helped nab the guilty party. 10. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was executed in New Jersey s electric chair on April 3, 1936. 11. This crime and the extended intrigue around it became known as the Crime of the Century. 12. A child s life was at risk; a Ransom was demanded; the Ransom was paid; but the child was killed. The Need for a Ransom A. Man was kidnapped from Paradise, if you will follow the analogy, by the devil and his seduction, when our first parents innocently enjoyed the beauty and peace of a world without sin (Gen 3:1-6). B. The devil knew exactly what God had said about eating and dying (Gen 2:17; 3:1), so he condemned our parents, our race, and ourselves to death by God s certain and unalterable holiness and justice.

6 C. God further gave a law through Moses to confirm our inability and unwillingness to escape our confinement as joint-rebels with the devil against Him, thus proving our desert of His death penalty. D. You confirm your condemnation by sinning greatly every day against your only possible Benefactor! E. Consider it! You loved your kidnapper and did not want to leave him ( Rom 1:18-23,32; Eph 2:1-3). F. David described perfectly even a rich man s total inability to pay the Ransom for another (Ps 49:6-9). G. All men are going to die due to sin; only God can Ransom His people from the grave (Hosea 13:4). H. You will soon stand condemned to the lake of fire, but there is a book of Ransom paid (Re 20:11-15). The Identity of a Ransom A. A wonderful passage occurs in Job 33 that describes the role of a minister in preaching God s grace.

7 1. Elihu rebuked Job s self-righteousness and harsh criticism of God s dealings with him (33:1-13). 2. Elihu described three ways God deals with men that is wholly fair and very kind (33:14,29-30). 3. First, God speaks to men subconsciously in dreams of the night to keep him from sin (33:15-18). 4. Second, God speaks to men by His faithful ministers, who tell them of Jesus Christ (33:19-26). 5. Third, God is faithful and just to forgive those who fully repent and confess their sins (33:27-28). 6. We see three things by also in 33:19 and three references to the pit (33:29-30 cp 33:18,24,28). 7. The ministerial method of God is glorious, and we need to consider it in greater detail for profit. 8. The description of physical suffering (33:19-22) is both God s chastening and soul conviction, and it may be explained and elucidated by considering David s language of guilt in Psalm 51.

8 9. The context is not a mere faith healer (33:26), and the outcome is never so dramatic (33:25). 10. The rare preacher is one who preaches the truth, like Elihu, exalting God and Christ (33:23). 11. God s ministers save the despairing and hopeless by preaching deliverance and a Ransom (33:24). 12. Job knew full well about his Redeemer, and there is no reason to obscure these words (19:25-27). 13. The Ransom price of Jesus Christ has delivered us from sin, death, the devil, and hell (33:24). 14. This is the gospel of grace, for a minister s true graciousness is what he tells of Christ (33:23). B. The preaching of the gospel declares the good news of God paying the Ransom in Christ Jesus. 1. The gospel is not the Ransom , nor does it activate the Ransom ; it is only the information or news about the Ransom paid by Jesus (Rom 1:11-16; I Cor 1:17-24; II Cor 5:18-21; Titus 1:1-3).

9 2. God, for the praise of His own glory, chose to send a Ransom of flesh and blood (Heb 2:14-17). 3. Though under the curse and condemnation of the law, God sent His Son as Ransom (Gal 4:3-5). 4. John wept much when no one was Found to pay the Ransom , but Jesus then arrived (Rev 5:1-14). 5. The message of Jesus Christ coming to Ransom sinners is worthy of all acceptation (I Tim 1:15). 6. There should be no shame in this glorious gospel of glad tidings of good things (II Tim 1:8-12)! 7. The church is the support of the truth and its incontrovertibly great mystery (I Timothy 3:15-16)! 8. Carnal Christians prefer praise bands or punk preachers with a motivational mojo (II Tim 4:3-4)! The Success of the Ransom A. What was the Ransom ? The Ransom was the perfect life, death, and burial of Jesus of Nazareth.

10 1. It was the perfect substitution of the Lord Jesus Christ in our place under God s great wrath. 2. The Ransom was the man Christ Jesus, Who was willing to suffer torture and death in our place. 3. Caiaphas, the enemy of Jesus Christ, actually prophesied of this Ransom payment (Jn 11:49-52). B. Who paid the Ransom ? Jesus Christ gave Himself by the design and commandment of God. 1. While God gave Jesus for us, Jesus obeyed God by giving Himself for us (John 3:16; I Jn 4:10). 2. He said, I come to do thy will, O God, to fulfill and replace animal sacrifices (Heb 10:1-14). 3. God gave authority to pay the Ransom to Christ, to give eternal life to those given Him (Jn 17:2). C. To whom was it paid? Jesus Christ presented Himself only to God the Father as the Ransom for us. 1. The Ransom price was not given to the devil, for we were never held by the devil, but by God.